Great by Choice

In Great by Choice, we ask, Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis, and infused with engaging stories, Jim and coauthor Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times. This book is classic Collins: contrarian, data driven, and uplifting. >Read an excerpt from Great by Choice

This book addresses a single question: can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? Based on a five-year research project comparing teams that made a leap to those that did not, Good to Great shows that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance, but largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline. This book discusses concepts like Level 5 Leadership, First Who (first get the right people on the bus, then figure out where to drive it), and the Flywheel.>Read an article derived from the Good to Great research

This monograph sprang from the realization that the Good to Great concepts have use far beyond business—in government, nonprofits, schools, and just about everywhere else. The monograph rejects the idea that the social sectors should operate more like business and shows how the Good to Great concepts can be successfully adapted to worlds in which success is not measured in economic terms.
>Read excerpts from the monograph

How the Mighty Fall

How the Mighty Fall presents the well-founded hope that leaders can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course—in part by understanding the five step-wise stages of decline uncovered in the four-year research project behind the book.

Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. Anyone can fall, and most eventually do. But decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.>Read an excerpt from How the Mighty Fall

This book was coauthored with Jerry Porras and based on their research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business to investigate the question, Why are some companies able to achieve and sustain success through multiple generations of leaders, across decades, and even centuries? Among the findings are: Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress, BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), and the Genius of the And. Like Good to Great, Built to Last compares great companies to good ones during specific eras in history, and asks, What systematically distinguishes the great from the average?>Read an article derived from the Built to Last research

This is a practical handbook coauthored with Jim's long-time mentor and Stanford colleague, Bill Lazier. Beyond Entrepreneurship aims to help entrepreneurs make the shift from starting a successful business to building a great company by focusing on leadership style, vision, strategy, innovation, and tactical excellence.>Read an excerpt from Beyond Entrepreneurship